It's been too many years since I took the time to re-connect with this creaky old forum. The big social platforms are easier to use, look nicer, have a much larger audience, and have sucked the oxygen out of small independent forums of many kinds, including this one.

But this independent forum - and others like it - are rare indeed, because they exist simply for the benefit of the forum members. You're not the product here, there's no "monetezation" of you and what you do here. There's no tracking cookies. There's no "please subscribe" pop-ups. Yeah, it's "retro" - and that's what is drawing me back in. This place exists because it's just neutral ground to talk about the stuff that we like to talk about.

So I'm going to re-invite some friends to come here and re-awaken the art of civilized conversation, if I can.

As long as the old stalwarts remind ETS will endure!

Mr. Ritter has been incredibly generous in keeping this forum online, which I'm sure costs him real money.

I agree with the sentiment of "not being the product being bought and sold." There are a number of curiously oddball and highly useful forums where I am active, and which push back against the worst tendencies of the billionaire bro shmoes.

Revitalizing this forum would be a long hill to climb. Then again, it might be old enough to be retro or vintage or analogue -- if we could catch the right wave.

Cheers folks!